Hochul doubles down on mental health

With help from Shawn Ness

What would you say is the “defining challenge of our time?”

Climate change? A worsening housing shortage? The threat of another pandemic?

Gov. Kathy Hochul's answer: mental health.

“Make no mistake, this is the defining challenge of our time,” she said while boasting her recent mental health proposals during Tuesday’s State of the State.

At Tuesday’s address, the governor presented a slate of mental health policy proposals: She vowed to tighten regulations on social media’s algorithms which she says prey on young teens; she wants to mandate higher insurance reimbursement rates for mental health care; and she spoke bluntly about the link between mental illness, homelessness and crime.

And this morning, ahead of next week’s budget announcement, the governor announced $50 million is available for community-based hospitals to increase their psychiatric capacity. The funds can be used to cover construction costs for facility expansions.

“We can say we want more beds, (but) if you don't make the buildings bigger or add more capacity it’s not going to happen,” she said during a speech in the Bronx.

The comments were the latest example of Hochul putting heightened attention on an issue often stigmatized and seldom prioritized. (Mental health is one of the three focal points in her “commonsense agenda,” along with “fighting crime” and “protecting New Yorkers’ hard earned money.”)

In the last two years, Hochul said mental health funding has increased by 33 percent and that over 3,500 housing units were created for those dealing with mental illness.

The State of the State also included 10 mental health initiatives which she presented as efforts to fight crime and homelessness. Those include creating a new